UAE to not receive passengers from Pakistan over coronavirus fears

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has temporarily suspended receiving passengers from Pakistan until a special COVID-19 lab is set up to test them. The decision has been taken in the wake of the rapid rise in coronavirus cases in Pakistan which has crossed the mark of 200,000, and over 4,100 deaths so far, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

The General Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement that the decision also applies to transit flights originating from Pakistan. Recently, the South Korean government announced flight and visa restrictions from Pakistan and Bangladesh after the country witnessed a surge in coronavirus cases imported from these two nations. 

The authorities have restricted issuing visas for people travelling from these two countries, except for diplomatic and urgent business purposes. The new precautionary measures came into effect from June 21 and non-scheduled flights from these countries have also been temporarily banned.

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Over 10 million cases

On June 28, Coronavirus cases across the globe surpassed the sombre milestone of 10 million with deaths related to COVID-19 crossing the mark of 500,000. The United States, Brazil, and Russia are the worst-hit countries while India reporting a sharp rise in the coronavirus cases.

The United States has reported over 2.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, more than one-fourth of the total cases reported worldwide, and over 125,000 deaths related to it so far. The number of coronavirus cases in Brazil has skyrocketed following gross neglect for COVID-19 measures by President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 57,000 people have lost their lives in the Latin American nation.

While Russia and India hold the third and fourth position in the coronavirus cases respectively, the fatalities in the UK, Italy, and France have been way above. Britain has registered more than 43,000 deaths so far, with Italy and France with almost 35,000 and 30,000 deaths, as the rate of infection continues to increase.

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(Representational Image: Twitter / @Emirates)